


Until the End of the Line

by ScreechTheMighty



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: AU, Amnesia, Everything awful oh god someone do something, Gen, Hermann gets beat up, Implied eye horror/body horror, Kaiju!Newt, Post-Movie, Winter Soldier AU, sort of, with more Kaiju showing up because I'm mean like that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 18:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2078688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreechTheMighty/pseuds/ScreechTheMighty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a <a href="http://tsundere-scientists.tumblr.com/post/93558501931/but-what-if-a-winter-soldier-sort-of-situation">Winter Soldier AU</a> by tsundere-scientists. Newt returns to the Shatterdome after going missing for months, with a new arm and some missing memories. Things don't go well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until the End of the Line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AxolotlQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AxolotlQueen/gifts).



> So [killerweasel](http://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel) already beat me to the punch on writing something for this (and you should definitely read [their story](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2067033) because it's very good), but I had to contribute. The original post hurt me too badly for me NOT to contribute. Takes place a few months after the end of the movie—just imagine the Breach re-opened and more, nastier stuff started coming out. Because I’m mean like that.

There were alarms going off all over the Shatterdome. And the worst part was, Hermann could only hide. He was no use against the creatures rampaging through the Shatterdome, not in his physical state. The _security guards_ were barely able to hold them back. What good could he do?

There were three, two about the size of draft horses, one smaller, but no less deadly. If Newton were here, he would have been fascinated by the smaller Kaiju that had been emerging along with the larger ones. But no one had seen him since three months before the re-opening of the Breach. He was alive—Hermann wasn’t sure how he knew, he just _knew_ that Newton was alive. But that didn’t solve the problem of where he was, or what had happened to him. If Hermann was honest with himself, he’d say he missed the scientist. That ache of loss felt more pronounced now.

_I never got to say goodbye…_

What a completely ridiculous thought.

Something was clawing at the door. Hermann’s heart caught in his throat, and he immediately crouched back under his desk. Whatever or whoever was there, they were dangerously close to breaking down the door. _What do I do? Where do I go?_ There hadn’t been any time to evacuate. Now he was trapped here and…

The lab doors came down with a crash. Hermann winced and hid further under the desk. Judging by the footsteps, it was the smaller creature. Not that this really increased his chances of surviving, should it find him. Even a small Kaiju was stronger and more dangerous than he was.

Curiously, it didn’t seem to be looking for him. It instead moved around what had once been Newton’s half of the lab. While part of Hermann bristled at the thought of that _thing_ sifting through _Newton’s work,_ he realized that this could be an opportunity for escape. If it was distracted by the dismembered Kaiju parts, it might not notice Hermann sneaking out. He could make a break for it. Maybe get to the docks and see if there was a ferry getting the staff away. _I’d even risk swimming at this point._

Hermann took a deep breath. He stood got out from under the desk and prepared to make a run for it.

He froze at what he saw.

Because there was a figure on Newton’s side of the lab, standing upright, tracing a hand over one of the specimen tanks. The hand was clearly inhuman, cased in dark scales and sporting thick, sharp-looking claws. But the body was shockingly human. More than that, the body was _familiar._ The figure’s hair was shaggy and long, longer than he remembered. But he knew those tattoos. He could probably describe them from memory.

“Newton…?” Hermann breathed.

The second the name left his mouth, Hermann found himself hitting the ground with a heavy _thud_ and a burst of pain in the back of his head. The figure had him pinned down with his human hand, the Kaiju hand raised and ready to strike. “ _Newton!_ ” Hermann repeated, the name coming out in a desperate, terrified shout.

Because this _was_ Newton. He knew those eyes just as well as he knew those tattoos. They were haunted and _off_ , off in a way that Hermann couldn’t quite describe, but they were his colleague—his _friend’s_ eyes. Seeing them so blank, lacking even the rage one would expect from such a vicious attack, was the most terrifying thing Hermann had seen. “Newton…Newton, please, it’s me, it’s _Hermann…_ ”

Newton, or whatever creature had crawled into his body and was controlling him now, didn’t respond verbally. He lowered his arm, but he didn’t speak. His nostrils flared slightly as he leaned closer. Hermann wanted to wince away, close his eyes, and just wait for everything to be over. But he made himself keep his eyes open. He made himself look at Newton. “Newton…Newton, please, say something. Talk to me. I know you, I know…”

A low, warning growl erupted from Newton’s throat. Hermann flinched. He could smell blood on Newton’s breath. He could see it caked onto his teeth, and the claws of that Kaiju hand. “Please, Newton. I don’t know what they do to you, but this _isn’t you._ You’re Newton Geiszler, you have a ridiculous amount of phDs, you used to teach at MIT…we’ve known each other for almost a decade. Don’t you _remember?_ ”

Newton drew back. His eyes stared directly into Hermann’s. This time they didn’t look so blank. There was a spark of something…confusion, perhaps? Did he register what Hermann was saying to him? “Please. Newton… _Newt…_ ”

Newton didn’t kill him. He wasn’t getting off of him, but he hadn’t killed him yet. That had to mean something, right? “Newt,” Hermann repeated. The nickname seemed to draw another spark of recognition from his friend. “Don’t do this. Let me help you.”

Newton opened his mouth. When he spoke, his voice was dry, raspy, as though he hadn’t spoken in some time. “Newt?” he said, his head tilting as he spoke. “Who the hell is Newt?”

Outside there was a roar, and the sound of gunfire. Newton’s head whipped up to face the sound. Another snarl tore its way past his lips, and he looked back down at Hermann. His arm rose up again, claws ready. _This is it. This is it. I’m going to die at his hands._ The hands of his friend, who had been warped and twisted into _this…_ Hermann closed his eyes. He didn’t want his last memory of Newton to be him looking like that. He couldn’t bear it.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, as much for Newton’s benefit as for his. “It’s okay. It’s okay, Newton. It’s…”

The pressure holding Hermann down lifted. He heard footsteps, and the outside sound of roars was silenced as the door closed. When Hermann opened his eyes, Newton was gone.

 _He didn’t kill me,_ Hermann thought. _He could have killed me, but he didn’t._

This fact was the only solace he had in this entire affair.

Eventually, the security guards found him, hauled him to his feet, and helped him to somewhere safer. Hermann barely noticed their efforts. His thoughts were still on Newton, on the twisted shell of his former colleague that had walked into the lab, had every chance to kill him, but didn’t. Who had, perhaps, used that one remaining spark of humanity left in him to do walk away.

_What happened to you, Newton? What did they do to you?_

 

**++++++++++**

_Who the hell is Newt?_

Those were the first words that He had said aloud in…hell, He couldn’t remember how long. The Masters didn’t like it when He spoke. They wanted Him to stay connected to the Hive. They wanted Him to be We. He could never fully manage that, no matter how hard He tried. But He didn’t speak, out of respect for their wishes. If He wanted to communicate with them, He did so through the Hive.

The raid on the human’s Fortress had been reasonably successful. They lost one of the Hive during the attack, but the human losses were greater. He had hoped that the Masters wouldn’t find out about the human He’d cornered in the lab, the one that called himself Hermann. Hermann, strange Hermann, the first human whose mind He had been able to feel in some way. It felt familiar. It felt like it belonged there, with Him. As though He and this Hermann had once been part of a Hive. Just the two of them.

But that wasn’t possible. Hermann was not part of the Hive. Not even a little. He should have killed him when He had the chance.

But He hadn’t.

And of course the Masters knew. They knew everything.

_**Explain.** _

He would if He could, but He couldn’t even explain to Himself why He hadn’t killed the human. He just hadn’t been able to bring Himself to do it. Doing so would have felt like killing one of the Hive. But this human was not part of the Hive. _Hermann_ was not His Hive.

Right?

Since He could not answer the Master’s questions, He asked one of His own: _Do you know who he is?_

The Masters watched Him carefully. Their emotions were guarded from Him, and He could not read their faces the way He could that of the humans. He had been one once, the Masters said, but they had chosen Him to become something more. Something better. He didn’t feel like something better now.

**_He is just another human. One of their engineers. He is nothing. You should have dealt with him like you did the others._ **

“But I knew him.”

The words slipped past His lips, aloud, before He could stop them. He sensed confusion from the Masters, then anger. He winced back, but could not stop Himself from speaking again. “I knew him.” The repetition only brought certainty. He did know that human. He knew Hermann. Somehow, He _knew Hermann._

The thought terrified him.

The Master’s anger was soothed slightly as they saw Him curl up away from them. **_You are confused._** Their tendrils reached out for him, stroking His face. **_You need to be re-connected to us, now, so that we may continue our Work. We are so close now to making this planet better. Don’t you see?_**

He did see. No, He didn’t see. He didn’t know what He saw. The proximity to the Masters brought a calming nothingness to His mind. He needed that nothingness if He was to continue the Work, to claim the planet for the Hive. But there was still that spark of something, that certainty. He felt more certain of Hermann than he had anything outside the Hive. And though He knew it was wrong, that it wasn’t part of the Work, He clung to that certainty with everything He had.

 ** _You will see._** Their tendrils continued to caress him, moving up his face. **_We’re so close now. You can help us. You can help us claim this place. We’re so close. Won’t you help us?_**

But even that certainty was washed away by the presence of the Masters.

 ** _Good._** The tendrils kept moving, towards his ears, towards his eyes. **_Good._**

He closed His eyes. He knew that this was necessary, but the cleansing…it hurt. It always hurt.

Bracing Himself did nothing to stop His screaming.

 

**++++++++++**

 

Lady Victory was finally getting the upper hand against the largest of the Kaiju. Both of the smaller ones had been eliminated by the military. The city was in ruins, but the battle was taking a turn in their favor.

None of this made Hermann feel any better. Newton was out there, somewhere, running around the city. He had torn through a police squad, seriously injuring most of them, and had probably been sent to cause even more trouble. But Hermann didn’t care about that. Newton, his friend, had been manipulated and warped and beaten into something ugly by those _things_ on the other side of the Breach. No more. Hermann was going to put a stop to this, no matter what it took.

So he walked through the city, or what was left of it. He followed the same vague feeling that told him Newton was still alive. He kept calling his friend’s name: _Newton, Newton. Newt._ He hoped and prayed that the man was still alive.

He found Newton unconscious and half-pinned under some rubble. “Newton!” Hermann rushed to his friend’s side and assessed the damage. Newton’s head was bleeding, but the wound wasn’t terribly deep—just a scratch. It was the rubble that was going to be difficult.

_If I just move this, and then…yes, yes, I think…_

Hermann was not known for his physical strength. But he was known for his puzzle-solving abilities. That’s all this was, right? Just another kind of puzzle. If he just moved some of the lighter pieces enough, he could pull Newton out from under the rubble. It took a bit of effort, but soon, Newton was free fro, the rubble. “Newton...come on, we have to go.” Hermann dragged Newton upright, supporting him on his good side. “The Kaiju might circle back around. There’s a shelter nearby…”

Without warning, Newton pulled away and struck Hermann in the face. The blow was sudden, powerful, and sent Hermann staggering back. Another blow to the gut sent him sprawling. And then Newton was on top of him again, holding him down with his mutated arm and striking him again with his human one.

Unlike last time, he spoke. No, he screamed.

 _“What do you want from me?!_ ” The question was punctuated by another blow. “ _What do you_ want?! _I don’t know you! I don’t…!_ ”

Newton struck Hermann again. It felt like his nose was broken. It was definitely bleeding, as was his mouth. Despite the blood filling his mouth, despite the pain, Hermann made himself speak: “Yes. Yes, you do. Yes, you do…”

“No…”

“Yes. You’re Newton Geiszler. You’re my friend.” Hermann managed to reach up with one hand, tried to touch Newton’s face. Newton flinched away from the contact and snarled, but Hermann didn’t stop talking. “Don’t you remember? We saved the world.”

For a second, it looked like Newton was going to hit him again. But he stopped. Hermann kept talking through the haze of pain, hoping and praying that anything he said would get through to him. “We were rock stars. We did it…we did it together. You and I. Together.”

Newton’s hand remained in the air, poised to strike. His breathing was haggard, wracked by pain and confusion. His had slowly unclenched from a fist. He lowered it. “…Hermann?” Newton said the name carefully, as though testing it. Seeing how it felt.

The pain was too great. All Hermann could do was nod.

In the distance, he could feel Lady Victory battling with the Kaiju. Newton’s breathing slowed. His human hand reached out again, not to hurt, but just to trace the lines of Hermann’s face—along his jaw, his cheeks, resting there. “Hermann,” Newton repeated.

Saying that name again seemed to break him. He crumpled against Hermann, resting his forehead against Hermann’s chest. His body shook with sobs. He was scared, confused, but he was Newton again. He was back, even a little.

“Newton,” Hermann breathed. His head felt like it was split in two, but he couldn’t have cared less. He rested his hand on Newton’s back, the closest thing to an embrace that he could manage in his state. “Newton…Newt…”

He was back. Hermann had his Newton back.

 

**++++++++++**

 

He dragged Hermann back to the human’s fortress. At first they pointed guns at Him, shouted, but a man with pale hair and a face that looked like it had been carved out of rock stopped them. The man let Him inside and made sure that doctor saw Hermann. The man let Him stay with Hermann, although He heard several people say that it was a “bad idea”. It was probably for the best that the man let Him stay peacefully. He would have fought tooth and nail to stay close to Hermann.

Hermann was the only thing He was sure about right now.

He curled up next to the bed and listened to Hermann breathe. He was alive. The doctors said he’d be fine, but he’d need a lot of rest. They didn’t ask how he’d gotten the injuries. They had probably guessed.

His hand hurt.

The sound of Hermann’s breathing changed, and he groaned slightly. “Newton…”

Newton. That was His name, wasn’t it? He stood and sat on the edge of the bed. “Hey.” Speaking aloud still felt weird. “Are you okay?”

Only one of Hermann’s eyes was open. The other was still swollen shut. “I’ve been better,” Hermann admitted. “You?”

 _He’s that badly hurt and he’s asking about me._ “I don’t know.” He looked away. “I shouldn’t be here.”

“Yes, you should.”

“I hurt you.”

“Newton, that wasn’t you.”

“It…”

“It _wasn’t you._ ” Hermann grabbed His arm, gripping it, as though afraid He might float away. “The Precursors did something to you. I don’t know what, but you were manipulated. The Newton I know would never do those things unless something had gone wrong.” Hermann’s grip relaxed slightly. “We can fix this. I promise.”

He had no reason to believe Hermann. Hermann was strange to Him, in theory. In reality, He knew that He could trust Hermann more than anyone. More than the Masters. More than the Hive.

Hermann was His Hive.

“Newt,” He said. The name still didn’t feel quite right, but at least it felt familiar now. “I’m…Newt.”

“Yes.” Hermann smiled slightly.

“You…said we’ve known each other for ten years.”

“More or less. Some of that was long-distance, but it was very thorough correspondence. And half of it was in close quarters.”

He—Newt—nodded. “What was it like?” he asked. _What am I like?_ is what he meant. He didn’t want to say it aloud. Admitting that he had no idea was still frightening.

Luck for Newt, Hermann knew what he meant.

“It was an experience, I’ll tell you that. Some of it good, some bad, but…I’m very glad it happened.” Hermann’s grip loosened further, and his hand moved down Newt’s arm to rest on his hand. “Where do you want me to start?”

Newt shrugged. The name seemed to fit more and more. All of it fit. And even though he’d been through hell, done terrible things, and hurt the only person he could remember even a little, he knew, right then, he’d be okay. “Start at the beginning,” he said. “Tell me everything.”

And Herman did.

**Author's Note:**

> Lady Victory is a Jaeger idea I’ve had knocking around in my head for a while, so I figured I could premiere her here. There’s some Kaiju/PacRim 2 Villian!Newt fanart that I remember seeing ages ago that I had in mind while writing this, but unfortunately I don’t remember who drew it or where it is. If I ever do, I’ll be sure to link to it.
> 
>  
> 
> The original idea was only supposed to have the first two parts, but I figured I should finish it because a) there were more chances to beat up Heramann, and b) ending it on a sad note would be too mean, even for me.
> 
>  
> 
> Part of me wants to make this a longer fic, but I already have a long fic in progress as it is. I probably should not start a second. If I do end up making a longer version of this, then you can laugh at me.


End file.
